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Yorkshire gold for everyday minimum faff.
A decent tippy (lots of golden bits) loose leaf Assam for a proper brew.
Very impressed with H.R Higgins's teas these days. They do a green Japanese cherry tea that's to die for. They have a royal warrant so if it's good enough for big Lizzie....
Silver needles white tea is also very nice if you want something subtle. Not cheap though if you want nice stuff.
Here's a tip: next time you make a pot, try a bag of ordinary Ceylon with a bag of Earl Grey. Delicious and refereshing.
Any of the Thomsons tea range . Punjana being my favourite, then the Irish blend or Titanic.
Twinings Strong English Breakfast tea comes ina close second.
It is all about the water though.
garage-dweller - Member
Chrisdw so true nearly all tea drunk at my parents place is vile. The water there is so hard you have to chew a glass of water.
This.
Scottish Blend for me, Twinnings Earl Grey for MrsH
Yorkshire. With filtered water as its crap for making brews straight from the tap here in Portsmouth.
I'm a proper tea ponce but the truth is you need to try some different options and see what you like
This.
'Tea' is a catch all for many different varieties and blends of varieties so it's almost as worthless as asking what beer's best or what wine's best and hoping for a single answer. It all depends on your taste.
As others have said, some teas work better in hard vs soft water, etc. (or said differently, taste different, I'm not saying better or worse). I grew up in a hard water area and live in a hard water area, don't go in for filtering, and hence what i think tea tastes like is attuned to that. When I go oop north to a soft water area (York/Leeds) the same tea blend doesn't taste right.
Get a few, try a few and decide what you like. I do like Yorkshire, I like Sainsbury Gold Label, I actually find PG Tips in hard water to taste better (to me) than Yorkshire tea when I'm in York (go figure, it's a taste thing)
I also noted that Taylors do a hard water blend.
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I'm sure to someone more expert than me it makes a difference, but I like my tea to taste what tea tastes like to me, and my fear of change is higher than my desire for a marginally better cuppa, so I haven't actually tried it.
Just don't put the milk in to your builder's cuppa before it's ready. My wife puts milk and bag in the mug and then hot water, and it's wrong. After nearly 16 years of marriage, it's time for her to learn or I'll be having a new patio in the summer.
Those of you making tea in the mug, buy a teapot for £5 and give it a go.
For two mugs you only need one bag of standard PG, Yorkshire etc (fancy teabags can be more stingy). Warm the pot with a splash of boiling water then pop a bag in and fill to required level.
Brew for a couple of mins, stirring once or twice before pouring and adding milk (and sugar if you're a child).
Works out cheaper and a more rounded, less harsh flavour. Win-win.
Cornish tea - smugglers brew, love the stuff!
The tea bags contain crap tea is a myth that has been debunked. They can contain anything the producers choose to put in them. You can buy good tea bags as well as crap ones in the same way as you can buy good loose leaf as well as crap loose leaf.
As I said before - unless you're making it right (boiling water is the key) then forget about what tea you're using because it'll never be good.
chai tea .. smells lovely and hits the spot every now and then ( used with that globe thing) .Afternoons are good with a regular tea bag and an earl grey in one pot. I pre warm the pot before adding bags and water.
a regular tea bag and an earl grey in one pot
Yep, a decaff bag and a standard lady grey bag make a lovely combo for a gentle post-lunch lift. I'm quite sensitive to caffeine myself.
Despite selling tea for a living I normally just make it in the mug. I'm now sat here with a full pot all to myself though, and it is rather lovely...
I have a rapidly vanishing bag of loose-leaf Irish Breakfast tea (a very strong Assam blend) which I'm currently really enjoying. It came from Michael Matthews in the Cambridge market.
Tea bags are OK if you're in a hurry.
The tea bags contain crap tea is a myth that has been debunked. They can contain anything the producers choose to put in them
You could say the same thing comparing instant coffee to freshly burr-ground stuff. The stuff in the tea bags you get off the shelf is almost like powder, good loose leaf tea is totally different.
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You can get tea bags containing decent tea also, but that's not what the majority of people mean when they talk of teabags.
Also, Yorkshire Tea is filth, I don't know why it gets so much love.
And, here's what a good tea bag looks like.
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You can't beat loose tea, my old man is a well known potter and spent years on tea pot design, sadly he only makes a batch once a year and theses a waiting list. We always had leaf tea growing up with tea sent from Assam and Darjeeling (My mothers family are from Bengal, below the tea estates). I only drink loose leaf if I have time to enjoy it or if someone visits. If you are ever in Calcutta or any of the towns north to the mountains the tea markets are fantastic.
Another bag I really like is Equal Exchange organic Earl Grey, its really quite different to Twinings, possibly an acquired taste, but I like it.
My wife puts milk and bag in the mug and then hot water, and it's wrong. After nearly 16 years of marriage, it's time for her to learn or I'll be having a new patio in the summer.
Want a hand digging it?
This is a vile habit, rendering an eagerly awaited cuppa undrinkable.
Chai tea from brew tea company, easy to make with their pot thing and very tasty.
Ceylon orange pekoe best tea ever
I'm quite opinionated about tea. If I made tea as cha****ng describes it would be feeble. I came across a book called "A nice cup of tea and a biscuit" and the author was equally badly informed about how to make a cup of tea. Well I say 'cup', I mean mug, because I'm a full size human. 😉
It's simple:
1. Use enough tea - one proper sized tea bag or equivalent of loose leaf per mug. Anything less is wishy washy.
2. Use absolutely boiling water - anything other than a kettle will not be hot enough.
3. Brew for three minutes - I set a timer.
4. Add semi-skimmed milk to taste.
If you choose to use a teapot then you may need to warm the pot and you must make sure there is sufficient tea for the volume of water. And if you use a pot and intend to have a second cup of tea then you must remove the tea bags or loose tea once it has brewed. Harder water will need different/more tea.
If you brew for less than three minutes you may as well use less tea. If you brew for more than 3 minutes but less than 5 the tea will become more bitter as the tannin comes out. After the 5 minute mark things go rapidly downhill...
I believe the use of teapots only really makes sense with loose leaf due to the straining requirement. Milk first with a teapot is a non-U affectation with its real origins in poor china which would crack when near boiling water was poured into the cup. Milk first when not using a pot is the behaviour of a foreigner or someone who hates tea drinkers. 😛
People who know me often say "would you like a cup of tea? Actually, I'll let you make it..."
Soft water here in Madrid, and while Yorkshire tea might be great with hard water (no idea if it's true) it's crap here. PG all the way. This is with UHT milk of course, proper milk is available but after 20 years here I've got used to it.
Loose leaf is for weekends with a proper pot, otherwise bag in a mug is easy and good enough for me.
My wife puts milk and bag in the mug and then hot water, and it's wrong. After nearly 16 years of marriage, it's time for her to learn or I'll be having a new patio in the summer.
Want a hand digging it?
This is a vile habit, rendering an eagerly awaited cuppa undrinkable.
Bollocks. I've drunk tea made both ways, and I can't tell any difference in flavour other than if it's too strong, so I always put a bag in the mug, a small amount of milk, and boiled water, move the bag around until the tea is strong enough, then remove the bag without squeezing it.
Mostly though I use Twinings Pure Green Tea bags, 50 in a box for around a quid, because I always drink from a Morrison's On-the-go flask, and any other tea gets a bit manky after several hours, and milk is a no-no, tastes vile.
Can't be fannying around with loose tea and pots first thing in the morning to fill a flask, and I can't keep breaking off from work to keep making tea that's cold after twenty minutes.
Typhoo or Assam loose leaf tea straight in the cup, boiling water straight in, a splash of milk and you are good to go. Just remember the leaves in the last half inch. No bag yet has come close to making as refreshing and tasty a cup of tea.
I've enjoyed reading this thread also believe there is enough material herein to submit for test in a special (brew) one-off 'Mythbusters' episode 😉